Day 9 Gluten Free: Friday!

Pictured: These breadsticks are gluten free.

Today is the last day before I reintroduce wheat back into the family’s diet for a day. In order for the experiment to work, everyone is going to eat one, vast, gluten based meal tomorrow to adequately gauge reactions. While Ross recommends feeding people gluten all day long, to me that’s akin to sticking them in a mound of jelly and inviting wild bears to come and eat them. I am going to contemplate this further before deciding what to do, and will report back. There’s a difference between making a point and pummeling someone with it. I also don’t want to hand out plates of high gluten pancakes and then yell AHA! as people begin dropping like flies, only to repeat the process two more times during the day.

I had initially intended for this to be a complete, 14 day trial, but due to my lack of math capabilities, it occurred to me yesterday that Monday would have been the day, and the idea of putting children into a wheat coma on a school day wasn’t particularly caring or sensible. Adding to this, I’d like for people to be able to tell me how they are feeling and when they are feeling it, and weekends are more conducive to this.


Results of this experiment thus far

1. Oldest son: Ever the conscious guilt-driven perfectionist, he accidentally ate a cupcake when presented one by a beautiful girl at school for whom he had helped move some canned goods for a food drive. He spilled the beans immediately, apologizing profusely and declined a second cupcake.

He has told me he’s down ten pounds since the beginning of the experiment.

2. Youngest son: The grumpy 37 year old man trapped in the body of a kid with a driver’s permit, he has discovered rice products cause him as much trouble as I suspect wheat might. He’s hard to read and complains the most about being without wheat. I have actually had him tested for gluten intolerance since he’s so thin, but those results came back negative. I suspect of everyone, he will likely experience the least symptoms of adding wheat again. Read below for an anecdote that showed me he was viewing GF as a punishment and was happy last night.

3. Oldest daughter: Not a fan of grain anyway, this creative nosher uses rice cakes for sandwiches, and enjoys fruits ad veggies. She hasn’t lost any weight per se, but I suspect she would have to further cut complex carbohydrates in order to experience any further losses.

4. Youngest daughter: The energetic whirlwind of a child announced to her teacher the other week that going gluten free meant she broke less wind (more about that in yesterday’s blog post). While she’s annoyed at the difficulty in packing lunches sans bread, and she missed out on chicken nugget day at lunch, she’s been somewhat upbeat. I can tell her middle has slimmed a bit (I suspect less gastric distention due to wheat) and she seems more alert and happy.

Papa: Foregoing the work doughnuts and the other temptations (even on his Birthday), husband claims he hasn’t noticed any changes from cutting out wheat. Granted, he’s not a daily wheat eater anyway…

Myself: I’ve never been a fan of wheat because I know it makes me miserable, so while it would have been nice to have the convenience of Dreamfields pasta this week, this was worth the added effort. I was disappointed, however, when I discovered that the multivitamin Dr. Ross recommends contains wheat of all things. A big UGH for Dr. Ross on that one and a slap on the hand for me for assuming supplements she recommends would automatically be wheat or gluten free.

I made a pot roast last night, but after much begging, pleading, and teens swooning over fainting couches, the kids were treated to McDonalds. What did I bring home? Cheeseburgers and fries. I handed each their burgers and told them they had to discard their buns.

And guess what? They were in HEAVEN.

These formerly bread-addicted people cast buns away from their bread like kids tossing aside cushions to look for the holographic Pokemon card in the couch. 20 bun halves later, kids sat, hungrily eating cheeseburgers, sans buns. Some lifted their meat gingerly with their wrapper. Others just grabbed and went for the nompf.

Regardless the method, all were happy. Happy! And none were as hungry as they would have been had they eaten the grass-derived buns.

OK. So I need to go and plan dinner.

Breakfast for the low carbers:
Dad: Skipped
Mom: Bacon and dunkin’ egg
Boy#1: Bacon

Breakfast for the high carbers:
Girl #1: Crispix and milk
Girl #2: Carbmaster yogurt
Boy #2: Crispix and granny smith apple

Lunch for the low carbers:
Dad and Mom: Eggs and bacon
Boy #1: Eggs and bacon

Lunch for high carbers:
Girl #1: 2 rice cakes with peanut butter, Nut Thins, Ghirardelli chocolate
Girl #2: rice cake with peanut butter, gluten free cookie, carrots
Boy #2 still shares lunch with sister and mooches part of hers

Dinner for the high carbers:
Country style ribs with potatoes and mushrooms, leftovers

Dinner for the low carbers:
Country style ribs with mushrooms, riced cauliflower, leftovers